STRATFORD…1986 vs. 2019…A COMPARISON

Attempting to compare one team from another, especially teams from different decades is subjective.  It is easier to compare this team from last seasons or even the team from 10 years ago.  It is sort of like asking a parent which of their kids they like best.  Each team or child has different things that you like better than others.  It often takes a lot of thought to come up with an answer as to which team was better.

 As I pointed out in my previous story about Stratford…SUCCESS BREDS SUCCES AT STRATFORD coach Tom Knauf spent 12-seasons at Stratford but he night very well considered his 1986 state championship team to have been his best.  His championship squad posted 10-shutouts and allowed only 13 points.  Other than a team going unscored upon the 1986 Stratford has the second-place spot in the state record book as a team that allowed the fewest points in a 10-game or more season.  Cashton in 1981 allowed only three points in a 12-game schedule.  While I have some player stats in my book that featured the 1980-81 Cashton as one of The Great Teams, I went back and attempted to do a statistical comparison.  Unfortunately, there are scant individual game team totals or full team stats in any of the newspaper end of season recaps.  Cashton went 8-0 in 1980 but failed to make the WIAA playoffs as did Belleville who went 9-0 and allowed only three points.  Why didn’t they qualify?   Because at that time there were only four spots for the D-5 playoffs and the WIAA picked what was thought were the best teams.

The 1980 team went undefeated, untied and unscored upon, the last Wisconsin school to do so.  With only one returning defensive starter, linebacker Mike Houser, little was expected in 1981 but coach Gary Hanson molded his 1981 defense and they did go 12-0 with five shutouts to start the season before…Stratford…yes, Stratford, scored on the Eagles.  Leading 10-0 John Ponczoch kicked a 35-yard field goal for the Tigers.  Two Stratford fumbles were converted into touchdowns and the Eagles won 24-3.   Cashton would shutout their remaining six opponents and beat Poynette 32-0 in the state championship.

It might have been best to compare the 1981 Cashton team to the 1986 Stratford team.  Afterall, they played in years closer to each other, but scores don’t tell the entire story.  I just couldn’t find enough game stats to satisfy my needs. 

 1986 rolled around and coach Tom Knauf and Stratford was coming off a 3-6 1985 year.  With 16 returning lettermen but with heavy losses to his offensive and defensive lines the fellow Marawood Conference coaches picked the Tigers to take the title.  Still, those returning had talent.  Mike Breit was a 6-3, 208 end and a good blocker.  Gary Zuelke was a 5-11, 180 fullback who had finished fourth in the conference with 514 yards.  Seniors Todd Kolbeck, 5-8,150, and Jody Schwabe, 5-10,170 were vying for then starting quarterback spot.  Whoever lost that starting spot would end up as a halfback.  Knauf promised that his team would pass more often as they gained only about 600-yards through the air in 1985.  The team wasn’t blessed with a lot of size although the one returning tackle, Dan Schmidt was 6-2, 250 and lineman Scott Junemann at 6-2, 205, along with Breit were the big guys.  What made the team preseason favorites was the fact that there were nine returning starters who held the previous season opponents to 155 yards per game.  The linebacking crew was strong with Schwabe, Jeff Kohlbeck, 5-8, 155, Ally Schmitt, 5-11, 190, and Dan Drexler, 5-7, 165.  Todd Kohlbeck was also a deep back along with Jeff Downey, 5-11, 160 and Dennis Daul, 5-9, 156.  Lots of defensive talent.

Having been a power running team in the past, even with Zuelke returning, the ground game was good but not overpowering in 1986.  They needed the pass to help score and a tough defense to win. Check out the stat sheet below. 

In game #2 against Rosholt the Tigers overcame 95-yards in penalties and fumbled five times, losing two.  One fumble set up a 16-yard touchdown run while the team allowed only 58 yards rushing.  In game #3 longtime rival Edgar Took Stratford to the brink of a disaster.  The game was much closer than the final 20-7 score indicated.  Look at the stats for each team to compare their efforts.  Jeff Kohlbeck opened the scoring in the second quarter and a 6-0 lead.  The Wildcats scored in the fourth period on a 26-yard pass and a conversion kick.  Edgar up 7-6. The Tigers buckled down and after exchanging punts and starting on their own 35-yard line they drove to the Wildcats 12.  Mike Breit hauled in touchdown pass from Jody Schwabe to take the lead.  In their drive to take the lead Schwabe was 3-4 passing with Breit catching all three completions.  Stratford kicked off and on first down, as they were setting to throw a pass the ball was fumbled, and junior defensive end Greg Schoenfuss (5-9, 175) picked it up and rambled 28 -yards for the final score with 18-seconds left and that sealed the win.

The next seven games were much easier.  After the Edgar game Coach Knauf made sure that his defense only thought about shutouts. The pass defense was tight for the most part all season hauling in 20 interceptions.  D-back Dennis Daul led the team with five picks.

In the semi-finals against Crivitz the Tigers could only muster a first quarter touchdown and an extra point kick.  Darrel Schraeder, the usually dependable kicker missed a 20-yard field goal that was blown off course by the winds at Ashwaubenon, all in the shadow of Lambeau Field. The Stratford ground game made several attempts to get across the goal line but their drives all stalled.

In the title game Jody Schwabe was 6-17-2-152-1 passing.  His second quarter 70-yard pass play connecting with Dennis Daul put Stratford up 6-0.  He would score on a 1-yard run in the fourth period in the 13-0 win. DeSoto during the 1977-85 timeframe won three titles and was runner up twice in championship games. In fact, in 1985 they lost to Manawa 14-6 in the title game.  1986 was truly a magical year for the Tigers:

In 2018 the Stratford Tigers posted an 11-3 record, falling in the state D-5 finals to Bob Hyland’s St. Mary’s Springs, 20-17.  The school has a proud history of being in the hunt for the gold trophy.  Jason Tubbs had succeeded Cal Tackes, who posted a career 236-48 record including a state record six-consecutive state titles.  Cal “retired” in 2012 and turned the head coaching reins over to Tubbs who has continued the Tiger tradition of winning.  I wrote “retired” as Cal still helps out with the program, but Jason is his own man in directing the players.  2018 set up the returning players for the next season, 2019, on a mission to prove they had been denied their due. 

 So, in 2019 Jason Tubbs built what many have seen as maybe the best overall defensive team the state had seen in years.  Maybe, to my thinking, the best ever.  Coach Tubbs challenged his team to get better each week and to leave no doubt in the player’s minds that they were the best.  Because stats have entered our lives, we have some proof as tom how good this team was.  Thanks to baseball, yes, baseball, stats have been a way to compare players and teams, even from different eras. Other sports, like football got on the bandwagon and began to report stats on a regular basis after World War II.

However, to compare 1986 Stratford to 2019 Stratford might not be fair when looking at the offensive numbers. A 33-year difference is too much of a spread of time for comparison as again, offenses were much different.  But defense is defense and how you stop your opponent really doesn’t change much.  You set your defense to match up with your opponent’s offensive strengths.   In 2019 Stratford set the record for 12-consecutive shutouts in a season.  In the state record book four other schools have posted 11-shutouts over the course of a 12-14 game season. Four have posted 10 shutouts in a season but none have equaled the Tigers 12-consecutive game in a season record.  More about some of these other teams will be discussed in the future but now, let’s stay with Stratford.

Those returning got to work right away after the title game doing the weights more often and harder.  The players listened to former graduates who were now playing college ball and learned additional techniques to improve their game.  It had been a tradition at the school that the older players helped the younger ones.  Younger boys wanting to emulate their older brothers. Like a lot of successful programs, they took on a more “blue collar attitude” to drive for success.

Success does breed success.  Going back to 1993 the school has made it to at least the first round of the state playoffs each season.  That is something Coach Tubbs could impress on his team.  The players took the loss to St. Mary’s hard and they looked for revenge each time they took the field.  It helped that the team had size as well as speed.  Ben Barten was a 6-foot-6, 270-pound tackle.  Others on offense were Easton Kilty who stood 6-5, 283, Dawson Moen (6-1, 253), Jaykob Mikelson (6-2, 253), Trevor Denee who was the “small guy” at 5-11, 194 as well as tight end Vaughn Breit who went 6-5, 215.  Middle linebacker Justin Schoenherr posted 115 tackles and 12 tackles for loss.  Outside linebacker Trevor Denee had 101 tackles with 16 tackles for loss.  Inside linebacker Devin Denee posted 66 tackles and 8 for loss, strong safety Justin Radke had 60 tackles and 6 were for losses and Ben Barten played defensive tackle making 60 tackles with 13 for losses.  You may think that the first team defense played most of each game but that’s not true.  Coach Tubbs substituted liberally having 46 players make at least one tackle on the season.  The JV team was often on the field in the fourth quarter.  Like the varsity starters, the backups and those from the JV had just as much pride in holding their opponents scoreless.

 Expected to again bid for the Marawood Conference title, the shutout streak took a few around the state by surprise.  Even though the 2018 squad had posted three shutouts they had allowed 160 points that season. The Tigers had gained 5,465 yards and allowed 1,915 yards in 14 games, what the 2019 team was more remarkable.

As you can see, during the first 12 games, Stratford averaged over 52-points per game.  Stratford played some tough teams during the regular season blowing out Spencer/Columbus (Marshfield) Catholic, Antigo (A school with more than double the number of students as the Tigers), and Auburndale which also made the playoffs.  Edgar, always a tough conference opponent gave Stratford a scare in week eight. The Tigers posted a 12-2 record losing to Black Hawk/Warren (IL) in the D-7 championship. In the playoffs Stratford again faced Spencer/Columbus Catholic and beat them by more the second time, 41-0 vs. 51-0.

They had beaten 12-straight opponents and not allowed a score until they faced Amherst.  The Falcons proved to be no pushover.  After all the school had won D-5 titles in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and they came into the game undefeated.  Stratford scored first and had a 6-0 lead at halftime.  A 37-yard touchdown pass with 6:28 remaining in the third quarter.  Amherst converted the extra point kick and for the first time the Tigers were behind.   The Tigers scored two more times in the second half and pulled out the win but the shutout streak was over.  The schools win streak of 13 games ended the next weekend when Springs won.  In the title game the Tigers jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the first quarter.  They allowed a touchdown in the second quarter and went into the halftime on top 13-7.  The third quarter was scoreless, but the defense was unable to stop Lake Country Lutheran, and they fell 20-13.  It was a heartbreaking end to a great season.

When matching up the two Stratford teams it is easy to see the 2019 version statistically was better both on offense and defense

As I looked things over, the 2019 Stratford team was the best overall defensive team by far.  The school can be proud, even though they were disappointed in not taking title.  But as I have written, success breeds success as Coach Tubbs garnered the 2022 and 2023 D-6 titles and as I write this, they are undefeated and looking for another trophy.

HOW THE “MERCY-RULE” EVOLVED AND RECENT FORFEITS

THE MERCY RULE

On Monday, October 14, 2024, I sent an email to Rico Ragsdale, the head football Coach at Milwaukee Academy of Science, telling him that his quarterback, Brayln Albritton had set a state record.  On Friday, October 11 against Kingdom Prep Lutheran Brayln tossed six 2-point conversions in a 54-0 win.  Rico responded, thanked me and then asked if I had any records of teams quitting at the halftime and what were the most in a season.  I had been thinking about this story and I responded that I did not have any “official” state record I could only think, off hand, of one other incident (Not in Wisconsin) and that took place back in 1977 in California.  It seems that Kingdom Prep called it quits at halftime.  M.A.S. had another occurrence against St. Francis when the Novas were manhandling the Mariners, leading 36-0 after the second quarter.

After replying to Rico, it suddenly occurred to me that I DID know of one such game involving a Wisconsin team.  That was the first national Championship game that took place in Detroit on Christmas Day, 1897, when North Tonawanda New York called it quits after trailing 14-0.  My three-part series posted earlier this year covers the event.

REVISITING THE FIRST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AND MORE…PART 1 (wihifootball.com)

REVISITING THE FIRST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AND MORE…PART 2…THE GAME AND THE MADISON PLAYERS (wihifootball.com)

REVISITING THE FIRST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AND MORE…PART 3…THE COACHES (wihifootball.com)

The occurrence in California back in 1977 leads to a long path of the beginning of the Mercy Rule.  Los Angeles Wilson High School was a powerhouse for several years in the mid-70’s thanks to the coaching of Vic Cuccia and the play of his son, Ron.  Wilson ran a semi-spread offense and between 1975 and 1977 Ron passed for a then national career passing record of 8,804 yards and 91 touchdowns.  He also ran for 2,647 yards and 54 touchdowns.  Wilson went 39-0 during this period and won three Los Angeles City Championships.  As a sophomore in 1975 Ron was 41-29-0-509-4 in a 36-3 win over L.A. Lincoln.  The next season, 1976, Ron was 32-24-0-398-4 passing and 14-136-2 rushing again against Lincoln.  Now, a senior, Ron was having another great season in 1977 when he was hurt at the end of game three, sat out the next game and only played the fourth quarter of game six.  In game seven Wilson again faced Lincoln and Ron was 39-34-0-509-7 (Yes, again, 509-yards).  ALL IN THE FIRST HALF!!!  The sc ore was 63-0 and Lincoln called it quits for several reasons, including the score itself.  The first reason was that Coach Vic had his team try seven onside kicks, recovering five. During this three-year period Wilson would try as many as 23 onside kicks and recover 16 of them.  The next reason was that Lincoln had a lot of inexperienced defensive backs and Wilson was exploiting that fact. And finally, the Lincoln coach felt that Wilson was running up the score.  That might have been, but Coach Cuccia had a comeback, one also used by Florida State’s Bobby Bowden when William and Mary Coach Lou Holz complained about a high score…” It’s not my job to play defense for you”.  The game report made national papers.

Now I digress a little.  In 1969 actress Sharon Tate and several others were killed by followers of Charles Manson, a story that made national headlines as well as the trial of all involved.  The first police officer to be called to the scene was Don Markam.  Don was young and when he wasn’t working, he coached football. 

After 25-years coaching in California, in 1987 Don moved to Brandon Oregon and stayed 5-seasons.  He then returned in late 1993 to California to take another coaching job.  When he returned, it was on the heels of opponents from Oregon howling about his running up the score.  Don's leaving was caused by a better coaching offer back in California. The OSAA (Oregon State Athletic Association) began a 35-point lead at halftime rule was instituted after the 1991 season. Those who proposed and helped write the rule pointed to Markham as the reason with his high scoring teams.  So, we have his high scoring teams to thank for the creation of the Mercy Rule.

In 1994, at his fourth of what would be ten schools that he coached over the years, Don took over a Bloomington High team that had gone 1-9 in 1993.  Of his 10 coaching stops Markam would have two stints with Bloomington.  His time at Bloomington would see his teams score even more points than in Oregon.

Utilizing the Double Tight-Double Wing offense where his squads ran a toss play that few teams could stop, Bloomington went 14-0, won the CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) Division III Southern Section title while scoring a then, national team record 880 points or 62.9 points a game.  His star back, Greg Oliver, would set a state record with 352 points on the season.  Bloomington would win D-III titles in 1996 (Scoring 722 points in 14-games) and 1997 (Scoring 774 points also in 14-games).  Don Markam would end his career, dying in 2018 at age 78, with a career 311-112-1 record. 265 of those wins were in California as well as earning five overall C.I.F. championships.  

Since 1991 the Mercy Rule has caught on and 34 states currently have adopted it in some form.  Wisconsin introduced the rule in 2008.  California began utilizing the Mercy Rule in 2011.  There are some variations from state to state.  A few have a 42-point rule.  Some have a rule that anytime a team has a big lead, even in the first half, the clock starts running.  One of the reasons for the rule was, I’m sure, to prevent teams from canceling the rest of the game. But in some cases, the rule hasn’t kept the scores down.  In 2021 Wauwatosa West rolled over Pius 90-8.  West was leading 72-0 at halftime before the rule kicked in for the second half and only scored 18 more in that second half but they did convert on two 2-point conversions (Plus a safety).  The Trojans were content to run the ball gaining 474 yards on the ground, averaging 12.8 yards per carry.  They only threw the ball once for 36 yards. 

But one team from California failed to play well against an outmanned team.  Nearly two-months later in 2021 Inglewood High School blew out Morningside High School 106-0.  Leading 59-0 at halftime, the Inglewood coach refused to allow a running clock and kept his star quarterback in as he was allowed to toss 13…yes 13…touchdown passes.  Why the refs didn’t insist on the running clock is a mystery.  The Inglewood principal issued an apology and the C.I F. condemned the un-sportsmanship coaching.

High school football: UCLA commit Justyn Martin of Inglewood throws 13 touchdown passes in 106-0 win

Inglewood High players defend 106-0 win over Morningside - Los Angeles Times

Since 1994 a number of schools have passed Bloomington’s 880 seasonal points, mainly because those schools have made it to the finals in their state and have played mo0re than 14-games.  Aledo Texas scored 140 touchdowns in 2013 in 15-games and totaled a record 951 points on the season (63.4 points per game) while allowing only 134.  After Aledo beat Western Hills 91-0 there was an outcry from some Texans asking for the Mercy Rule to be implemented in 11-player football.  Texas also plays 6-player football, and they do have a Mercy Rule for that side of the game.  The UIL (University Interscholastic League), the Texas high school athletic governing body, voted NOT to implement the rule in 2014.  Spokespeople for the UIL cited that if they had the rule in place and games were cut shorter then, the third and fourth string athletes wouldn’t get any playing time. 

If you look at the Wisconsin state record book there is a list of schools scoring 100+ points in a game, but the latest 100+ game occurred in 1929, with most prior to 1919. MaxPreps.com has a quick look record book.  Check out (Cut and paste) the most touchdowns by a team that has a lot of super high scores:

MaxPreps National High School Football Record Book: Team touchdowns single game

The overall record book is at: 

MaxPreps National High School Football Record Book 

FORFEITS

The previous week to my contacting coach Ragsdale, on October 4 in an 8-player game Almond-Bancroft defeated Menominee Indian 66-0.  In that game quarterback Emmitt Stiles threw seven touchdown passes and made it into the 8-player record book.  When I looked at the game stats on WisSports.net I noticed that only the touchdowns were listed in the scoring recap, the quarter-by-quarter scores weren’t entered and none of the conversions so I wrote Coach Andy Louis how they scored the two-pointers.  He couldn’t give me a breakdown and said he would have to look at film.  I asked about other games as Stiles probably had additional conversion passes and could set records. He said it would take time to find out who scored what and how.  

I noticed that in the A-B’s season schedule they had a 2-0 win over Wausau Newman Catholic.  Now I know that Newman is an 8-player powerhouse and ranked in the polls but I didn’t give it much thought at the time.  Then, as I was looking at the overall listing of game scores, I see some schools have two games listed.  A cancelled game and a score for another game.  An example is Abundant Life/St. Ambrose being scheduled in both 8-player and 11-player.  How can that be? 

On October 4 Darlington played a real game against Lodi and won 55-10 but their schedule also shows on that same day a game scheduled with AL/SA and they are credited with a 2-0 win.  How can that be when in 8-player AL/SA played Oshkosh Valley Christian and won 52-8?

If you look at the two Milwaukee Academy of Science games mentioned above, they have scores and stats.  To me that is acceptable if it is a win and not a forfeit.  Now, I don’t pretend to have all the details about the Newman vs Almon -Bancroft game but it seemed that there were a number of hurt players, and the game should have been called at some point and it should have been listed as a win, not a forfeit.  Today, October 24, I looked at Almond-Bancroft’s schedule and saw that they had two games on October 11.  A 66-28 victory over Wabeno/Leona and a 1-0 win over Bowler/Gresham?  Again, no conversion stats and no quarter-by-quarter scoring for the Wabeno game.  Was that also a second half forfeit?  A-B has stats for the Newman game so to me, that’s not a forfeit no matter when the game was stopped.  And what about the scoring?  2-0 or 1-0?

Well, Mr. Google knows all (Or thinks it does) as it states that:

“In the event the team forfeiting the game is already losing at the time of the forfeit the score stands as is.  Otherwise, forfeits result in a 2-0 score in the NFL or a 1-0 score in high school, NCAA or Canadian football”. 

In the early days of high school football, the scoring was 2-0 and that has stuck in my mind until now.  Moving forward I will use 1-0 as the standard.  So, does that mean that the real score of the A-B vs. Newman game was 1-0?

Just wondering.

SUCCESS BREDS SUCCES AT STRATFORD

In the beginning, there was no football until 1962 at Stratford High School.  A scrapbook in the school library says that they first played in 1931 but none of the yearbooks have a mention of the sport until the 1963 edition.  Newspaper searches confirm that in late 1962 Robert Stuckwisch was approached to come to Stratford to start several athletic programs at the school.  The early yearbooks have pictures and scores of boys’ basketball and for a few seasons’ girls’ as well.  One picture from the 1930’s shows the track team consisting of two young men posing in sprinters stances.  Baseball was added to the school in the 1950’s but there were no pictures of any other sports in the older yearbooks until 1964.

Robert “Bob” Stuckwisch had a diverse career prior to coming to Stratford.  He was an assistant football coach, head track coach as well as basketball coach at Otsego High School in Michigan.  Otsego is located about 17-miles north of Kalamazoo.  In 1950 as the basketball coach, he was noticed in many newspapers around the country for the following:

From the Racine Journal Newspaper, January 12, 1950

I found this same story in The Milwaukee Journal, The Wisconsin State Journal, The Chicago Tribune, the Wausau Daily Hearld, the Stevens Point Journal, the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press to name a few.  As a coach, Stuckwisch was evidentially “old school”.

Bob Stuckwisch…1963 Stratford Yearbook…the best picture I could find of the coach

Stuckwisch moved to Stevens Point as the Director of Recreation for that city but in 1954, at the end of the school year he resigned to go into a business venture in Washington D.C.  Bob moved back to the area and was asked to start the football, wrestling and track programs at Stratford.  He may have been the school's first official athletic director, but the year books didn’t show Stuckwisch as a member of the faculty nor a mention of anyone being the AD.  The 1963 yearbook mentions only one game that the school played as noted below in the picture.  Newspaper searches show no mention of the team until 1963.

So, Stratford appears to have lost their first game in 1962.  But in 1963 they went 3-3-1, posted a 2-5-0 season in 1964 and then they tied for the Marawood Conference title in 1965 with a 5-3-0 overall record. Citing poor health Stuckwisch resigned but stayed in the area.  He had set up an annual track relay competition and he handled that and lived in the Marshfield area. 

Jerry Fitzgerald…WFCA HOF photo

Young, at only 25-years, Gerald “Jerry” Fitzgerald moved from Gibraltar High School in Door County and took over the program.  His Gibraltar teams had gone 10-6 in his two years there but he was even better at Stratford.  The 1966 season, his first, started slow as they posted a 0-2-1 record but then rattled off 20 consecutive wins, finishing 6-2-1 in 1966, 9-0-0 in 1967 and again 6-2-1 in 1968.  His 1967 team earned the school the #2 ranking in the A.P. final poll.  After earning his Masters Degree in Administration, he took the head football coach and assistant principal positions at Tomah.  He would later move to Stevens Point in the same positions at SPASH and would have an overall career 230-117-2 Hall of Fame record at the four schools.

Bob Delaney

Bob Delaney would take over from 1969-75 not only as the head football coach but as athletic director.  Bob had an extensive coaching background, mainly in the college sector before he and his wife Mardie, also a teacher moved to Stratford. They would stay for many years after his coaching ended as teachers at the school.  In 1970 his team snapped Auburndale’s 31-consecutive win streak.  Delaney’s teams were almost always in the hunt for the Marawood title as they had only one losing season in the seven that he coached, and his 1971 team went 8-1-0 and tied for the conference crown.  His final season was 1975 and Stratford went 7-2.  The success of previous coaches was building.

Tom Knauf…WFCA HOF picture

Following Delaney stepping down, his assistant, Tom Knauf took over in 1976 and the school would reach newer heights.    His first team earned a 8-1 record and even though he had two losing seasons in his 12 years at the school (1980 4-5 and 1985 3-6) Coach Knauf produced a wonderful 91-33 record.  His 1986 team went undefeated and earned the WIAA D-5 title going 12-0 with ten shutouts and allowing only 13 points.

1987 Stratford yearbook

Knauf grew up in Marshfield attending Marshfield Columbus High School.  He first coached at Royall and after he left Stratford it was back to Columbus to run the football program twice, once for six years before becoming the defensive line coach at UW-Stevens Point and then back to Columbus to coach his sons and then he retired.

Cal Tackes with one of his teams at Cam Randall

Cal took charge in 1989, and he continued the winning ways without blinking.  In 24-years at the helm, only once in1991 did a Cal Tackes team fail to make the playoffs.  In 1991 the Tigers posted a 6-3 record.  Between 2003 and 2008 his teams won six consecutive state titles, a feat never performed before or since then.  A member of the WFCA HOF Cal ‘s record was a glossy 236-48, a winni9ng percentage of .831 which is currently ranked #5 on the WFCA 200+ coaching wins list.  Cal stepped down as head coach after the 2012 season but continues to help the football team and current coach, Jason Tubbs.

Jason Tubbs...Stratford Hogh School photo

17-years ago Jason Tubbs joined the staff as an assistant and when Cal Tackes stepped down as head coach he stepped in and the success has continued.  Now into his 13th season his teams have kept the streak of making the playoffs now at 33 consecutive years (Since they are currently undefeated with an 8-0 record, they are a cinch to make it this season).  His 2018 and 2019 squads lost in the state finals but in 2022 and 2023 they were D-6 Champions.

A number of schools, large and small, started their football programs after World War II.  Those schools have had very good success.  Fond du Lac St. Mary’s Springs, Waunakee, Edgar, Waukesha Catholic Memorial, Muskego, River Ridge as well as Stratford all started in 1949, sometime in the 1950’s or in the 1960’s and have done well.  Older, established schools as of late…Green Bay East, Green Bay West, Peshtigo, Delafield St. John’s and former Milwaukee powerhouses Washington and Bradley Tech have failed, for many different reasons to continue their past success.

One thing for sure is that whether or not you have had one longtime head coach like those at Memorial, Springs and Edgar or multiple coaches who have kept the school’s winning tradition, one thing is for sure…SUCCESS DOES BREED SUCCESS and it's been shown here with Stratford.  It also helps to have had HOF quality coaches molding their players talents to near perfection. More about how their success has been achieved in a future story.